Are national regulators impartial?
The disagreement between the FAA and CAA over the recent LAX BA747 engine surge incident places the spotlight on such agency's impartiality. The language used by the FAA here ;"careless and reckless" is strong stuff. Would they have directed such language at a US carrier? there are plenty of documented cases of US airliners which didn't land immediately after losing an engine.
The US government in particular seems happy to wield the big stick at non-US carriers -example 1. The BA and Air France flights cancelled over the skymarshall issue -example 2, the Latin American airlines pursued by the US tax authorities. Is it perhaps the case that overseas airlines are a soft target for any zealous Federal official?